By Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — Delegate Joe Morrissey, D-Henrico County, called a Republican adoption policy proposal “highly discriminatory, mean and cruel.”

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By Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — Ask Virginia House Minority Leader David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, what to expect from the state’s conservative leaders, and he’ll say: “Not only a slew of misplaced priorities, but a classic bait and switch.”

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By Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — Ask Delegate Bob Marshall, R-Prince William, about the origins of his zeal for anti-abortion legislation, and he will take you back to the Napoleonic Code — the law governing France in the early 1800s.

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By Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — Progressives and conservatives agree on few things in Virginia politics, but both have placed ending the tax credits, which cost the commonwealth billions of dollars in lost revenue, high on their agenda for 2012.

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By Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — Parents of children who are struggling in some of Virginia’s most troubled public schools could get more choices, if Republicans win tax breaks for companies that make donations for low-income students to attend private institutions.

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By Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — As Virginia lawmakers seek a long-term funding fix to the state's crumbling road system, former Secretary of Transportation and Public Safety Delegate Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax, on Tuesday tried to steer them toward an increase to the gas tax.

Watts has proposed raising the 17.5 percent gas tax by 5 percent to fund statewide maintenance needs, a move that would cost a Virginia family with two cars, on average, an estimated $200 annually, she said. The gas tax in Virginia, including local, state and federal levies, is 38.2 cents per gallon. The proposed increase would boost the tax to 40.11 cents per gallon over the course of four years, less than all Virginia's neighbors except for Tennessee, whose tax is 39.8 cents.

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By Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — The Republican-controlled General Assembly may make it legal to carry concealed weapons without a permit, even though gun owners support the current law.

Virginia law requires a permit for concealed carry, but a measure proposed by State Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, would eliminate the permit requirement, making it legal for all gun owners to carry a concealed weapon.

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By Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — The Virginia GOP establishment Thursday bestowed two more endorsements on Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, but popular Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has expressed interest in a nod for vice president, stayed on the sidelines.

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Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — The third State of the Commonwealth address from Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on Wednesday received enthusiastic whoops and applause from the state House gallery. 

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By Bill McMorris | Virginia Statehouse News

ALEXANDRIA — Delegate Bob Marshall hopes to do for lightbulbs in Virginia what California did for marijuana and Arizona did for guns. But he faces an uphill climb.

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